We had a lunch lecture where this environmental scientist gave a talk about critical materials and how big of a problem our reliance on these are. He links the whole thing up with politics pretty well, explaining how various political actors are involved and benefit from this or that.
At some point, he even mentions how in the netherlands, policy doesn't get passed without a buy-in from industry. It means quite a lot, cause this guy is government hired in recommending policies.
Then he contradicts himself in the next paragraph by saying that this is the curse of democracy that people make stupid decisions.
I ask this guy about the contradiction. How you simultaneously harp about profits over needs, the evils of consultancy firms, and the inability of the Dutch government to do anything but pursue corporate interests, while also talking about the problems of "democracy"?
He just tells me "we are a democracy that's why the Dutch government listens to industry". Well not exactly that, but at least that's the message I get when he talks about all the corporate controlled parties winning the elections and how that's what the people chose.
Dude is this close to realising that the definition of liberal democracy is "legitimised rule by corporations" .
Of course, the lecture ends with a book recommendation for a book about the collapse of human civilisation. And a recommendation to go vote and participate in political parties.
Unlimited death upon elections.
This is like when I see libs online say things like "We need to get money out of politics!!" but it begs a question no one ever asks, which is "How?". How do you get money out of a political system so deeply entrenched with lobbying at its core? Naturally, when pressed on the question, they fall back to "we just need to support progressive candidates, we have to be more 'politically active' and we have to educate people on the issues". Yet,
that what constituents want, and what results from our political system, never actually align at all.
I wonder what it is that keeps even the most politically engaged, and highly educated libs, like the one you are referring to, on the treadmill for so long?
If the existing political system is untenable, then that means that they are morally required to overthrow it, an endeavor that involves a lot of hard work, personal risk, and sacrifice. As Nechayev said:
Thanks for this lovely quote.